What Is Your Response to the Incident on the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18?

Video footage that was shared broadly on social media lately confirmed a bunch of highschool college students from Kentucky carrying “Make America Great Again” gear outdoors the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, seeming to encompass a Native American elder whereas cheering and jeering. The video excerpts infected widespread outrage. Early media reviews, together with by The Washington Post and The New York Times, helped to unfold the story.

If you haven’t finished so already, watch the video The Times printed on Saturday exhibiting photos from the scene.

What do you see going down within the video? What is your response to the video? Do you perceive why many individuals felt outrage in regards to the college students’ habits based mostly on what they noticed?

A fuller and extra sophisticated image emerged on Sunday of the videotaped encounter between a Native American man and a throng of highschool boys carrying “Make America Great Again” gear outdoors the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

Interviews and extra video footage counsel that an explosive convergence of race, faith and ideological beliefs — towards a nationwide backdrop of political stress — set the stage for the viral second. Early video excerpts from the encounter obscured the bigger context, inflaming outrage.

Leading as much as the encounter on Friday, a rally for Native Americans and different Indigenous individuals was wrapping up. Dozens of scholars from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, who had been in Washington for the anti-abortion March for Life rally, had been standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, lots of them white and carrying attire bearing the slogan of President Trump.

There had been additionally black males who recognized themselves as Hebrew Israelites, preaching their beliefs and shouting racially combative feedback on the Native Americans and the scholars, in response to witnesses and video on social media.

Soon, the Native American man, Nathan Phillips, 64, was encircled by an animated group of highschool boys. He beat a ceremonial drum as a boy carrying a pink “Make America Great Again” hat stood inches away. The boy recognized himself in a press release launched on Sunday night time as Nick Sandmann, a junior.

It was a provocative picture that rocketed throughout social media, main many, together with the scholars’ personal faculty, to sentence the boys’ habits as disrespectful. But on Sunday, Mr. Phillips clarified that it was he who had approached the gang and that he had intervened as a result of racial tensions — primarily between the white college students and the black males — had been “coming to a boiling level.”

“I stepped in between to wish,” Mr. Phillips stated.

In his assertion, Mr. Sandmann stated he didn’t antagonize or attempt to block Mr. Phillips. “I didn’t communicate to him. I didn’t make any hand gestures or different aggressive strikes,” he stated.

The encounter grew to become the most recent contact level for racial and political tensions in America, with diverging views about what actually had occurred.

Students, learn your complete article, then inform us:

— After studying The Times’s second article about this incident, did your response to the scholars’ habits change? How vital is the brand new data that it was Mr. Phillips “who had approached the gang,” versus the preliminary reviews that the video confirmed highschool boys “surrounding a Native American elder”? Explain.

— What accountability does social media have for creating this viral second that infected a lot outrage? What in regards to the information media?

— Consider Nathan Phillips’s statements and actions, as described within the article. What are your ideas?

— Did you learn Nick Sandmann’s assertion or watch this longer video of the encounter posted to YouTube? What are your ideas?

— Another article in regards to the incident and its aftermath describes what occurred as “a nationwide firestorm that touched seemingly each uncooked nerve on this polarized nation — race, President Trump and the habits of younger white males.” What function do you assume race performs within the state of affairs? What about political views? Explain.

— If you had been current in the course of the encounter, what do you assume you might need finished? Why?

— Have you ever rushed to judgment based mostly on incomplete data?

— What, if something, do you hope or anticipate will consequence from the incident and its aftermath? Why? Do you assume there are alternatives for development right here? How?

— What questions on this incident do you continue to have?

Students 13 and older are invited to remark. All feedback are moderated by the Learning Network employees, however please take into account that as soon as your remark is accepted, it will likely be made public.